Vijaya Bank opens Bhopal branch

Vijaya Bank has opened its 1,360th branch at Kolar Road, Bhopal. The new branch was formally inaugurated by K. R. Shenoy, Executive Director, Vijaya Bank in the presence of Kalpana Srivastava, Commissioner, Women Empowerment and Managing Director, Women Finance Development Corporation.

The Guest of Honor was Nishank Kumar Jain, Director, Vijaya Bank. Speaking on the occasion, Shenoy said that Vijaya bank will adopt a host of innovative methods to ensure inclusive growth for all with an increased focus on opening branches in semi-urban and rural areas.


Source: thehindubusinessline

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Federal Bank in Rupay League

Federal Bank has joined the Rupay League of India’s own domestic payment network. N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Ltd, unveiled the bank’s Rupay Brand Debit card at Kochi. The new card offers another option to Federal Bank’s customers to choose from. 

The debit card would be accepted on over 1 lakh ATMs of National Financial Switch member banks in the country and would be accepted on POS and Internet soon. Federal Bank is the first private sector bank and the 10th bank in the country to launch Rupay Card, a press release said. Rupay is the card scheme launched by the National Payment Corporation of India to offer a domestic, open loop, multilateral system which will allow all Indian banks and financial institutions in India to participate in the electronic payments market.


Source: thehindubusinessline

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More debate needed on financial code, says IRDA chief

There is a need for a debate on the Indian Financial Code (IFC), according to T. S. Vijayan, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

Speaking at a seminar on IFC organised by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) here on Saturday, Vijayan said a standardisation of intermediation should be brought in by the proposed financial code.

IFC is a draft bill recommended by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) in its report to the Government.

It has recommended that the existing regulators — SEBI, FMC, IRDA and PFRDA — should be merged into a new unified agency.

“If the financial code comes into force, Hyderabad will lose its only regulator and IRDA would not be there,” Vijayan, who recently took over IRDA chief, said.

Vijayan said there should be no ambiguity in various recommendations of the FSLRC, such as principle-based regulation and modalities on capital flows.

C. K. G. Nair, Secretary, FSLRC said the proposed code is for ‘tomorrow’s India’ as the economy is expected to touch $15 trillion by 2030 from the current $2 trillion.

S. N. Ananthasubramanian, President, ICSI said the seminar was the first initiative of its kind to debate the financial code.

naga.gunturi@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline

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Andhra Bank to auction Deccan Chronicle properties worth Rs 200 cr

Andhra Bank is set to auction properties worth Rs 200 crore of Deccan Chronicle Holdings Ltd (DCHL) to recover loans.

“We have started the process under the Sarfesi Act and identified some properties in Bangalore and Chennai,’’ B. A. Prabhakar, Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Bank told Business Line here on Saturday.

Andhra Bank has an exposure of Rs 200 crore to the beleaguered company. “These are fully securitised loans. According to valuations, the indemnified assets should give our money back,’’ the CMD said, adding that the auction process would be completely transparent.

The outcome of proceedings in the ongoing case in the Debt Recovery Tribunal is also awaited. “If there is any shortfall in recovery of assets through auction of properties, the DRT route will be helpful,’’ Prabhakar said.

Andhra Bank is one of the lenders of the company along with ICICI Bank, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, IDBI Bank, Corporation Bank, YES Bank and IDFC Ltd, among others.

DCHL has about Rs 4,000 crore loans which are collateralised. Its script closed at Rs 3.48 after gaining 9.78 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday.

naga.gunturi@thehindu.co.in


Source: thehindubusinessline

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HDFC Bank reaches new milestone

HDFC Bank, the second largest private sector bank has reached a milestone of 200 branches in Andhra Pradesh. The latest one has been set up in Vemulawada, a pilgrim town in Karimnagar district. The bank will focus on opening more branches in the rural parts of Andhra Pradesh.

Currently, more than 75 per cent of its total branches in the country are outside the top nine metros, which indicates its intent to growing its network in semi-urban and rural areas. This focus is part of the bank’s Board approved mandate to bring 10 million families (40 million individuals) into the banking fold, said Madhusudan Hegde, branch banking head – South, HDFC Bank. The bank has a countrywide network of 2,776 branches and 10,490 ATMs, a press release said.


Source: thehindubusinessline

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